In July 2012 the International Research Society of Spinal Deformities (IRSSD) held its ninth biennial meeting in Poznan, Poland.

IRSSD was founded in 1994but its history starts in VermontUSAwhere a group of researchers first met in 1980 to discuss moiré topography techniques for the assessment of trunk deformity in scoliosis. The inaugural workshops were organized by Drs. Morey Moreland, Malcolm Pope and Gordon Armstrong and focused on instrumentation, school screening, quantification & computerization. Multidisciplinary participation from both public and private sector, and participants from Japan, USA, Canada and European countries, contributed to the debates and discussion. Following the success of this meeting, a series of biennial meetings devoted to Surface Topography and Spinal Deformity were organized. After Vermont, chronologically and geographically, the meetings were held: 1982 in Munster, Germany, hosted by Drs. Burkhard Drerup, Wolfgang Frobin & Eberhard Hieholzer; 1984 in Oxford, UK, organized by Allan Turner-Smith & J. Derek Harris; 1986 in Canada organized by Ian Stokes, James R. Pekelsky & Morey Moreland; and 1990 in Lisbon, Portugal hosted by A. Alberti. This latter meeting was the last that focused on surface topography. A meeting that drew together the fields of Spinal Deformity & Surface Topography and 3-D Scoliotic Deformities was then held in 1992, in Montreal, Canada, at which discussions were held to decide whether a new Society embracing both Spinal Deformity & Surface Topography and 3-D Scoliotic Deformities, should be formally established. Two years later in 1994, in Pescara, Italy, further discussions during the meeting on Three-Dimensional Analysis of Spinal Deformities, hosted by Moreno D'Amico, Aricia Merolli and Giorgio C. Santambrogio led to The International Research Society of Spinal Deformities (IRSSD) being officially founded.

The creation of the new society reflected a desire to consolidate the momentum of the preceding meetings and also to broaden their scope. Subsequently, the first IRSSD meeting was held in 1996 in Sweden, hosted by John Sevastik, and included aetiology & pathomechanisms of scoliosis as main topics. The second meeting was held in 1998 in Vermont and was hosted by Ian Stokes, who introduced new topics: molecular biology & regulation of spinal growth. In the years since, the society has continued to cover a broad range of issues related to scoliosis. The third meeting was subsequently held in 2000 in Clermont Ferrand, France, hosted by Alain Tanguy and Bernard Peuchot, the fourth in 2002 in Athens, Greece, organized by Dr. Theodoros B. Grivas, the fifth meeting in 2004 in Vancouver, Canada, hosted by Bonita J. Sawatzky and S.J. Tredwell, the sixth meeting in 2006 in Ghent, Belgium, organized by Dirk Uyttendaele, the seventh meeting in 2008 in Liverpool, England, organized by Peter H. Dangerfield, the eighth meeting in 2010 in Montréal, Canada, organized by Carl-Eric Aubin, Ian A.F. Stokes, Hubert Labelle, and Alain Moreau and finally the ninth IRSSD meeting in 2012 in Poznan, Poland, organized by Tomasz Kotwicki.

The society promotes a multidisciplinary approach to scoliosis and spinal problems, with a strong emphasis on research in the field of etiology as well as the clinical effectiveness of a wide range of interventions. In one form or another, the IRSSD has been active for three decades, during which time it has encouraged open discussion in all areas related to spinal deformities. Contribution, involvement and interaction among people from all over the world has been a highlight of its activities. As Keith Bagnall said “IRSSD has always been a vehicle to carry the initial, small flicker of the flame. In the past, some of these flames have grown to become forest fires while others have simply died for whatever reason”.

This book contains the Proceedings of the 9th IRSSD 2012 meeting: peer-reviewed short papers or abstracts summarizing the 129 papers and posters included in the program. It covers all aspects of spinal deformity research, including etiology, genetics, biology, growth, metabolism, biomechanics, imaging technologies, innovations in treatment, and treatment outcomes. These scientific proceedings provide the opportunity for readers to learn more about the latest development in this field that will be presented and discussed during the meeting.

We would like to thank all the participants: the authors for sharing their work with us, as well as the members of the scientific committee, chaired by Dr. Theodoros B. Grivas, MD, PhD. The members of the scientific committee, who deserve a particular acknowledgment, divided into groups to review the various topics of the meeting program, namely for Biomechanics, Movement, Posture: Jim Raso, Carl-Éric Aubin, Moreno D'Amico, Yvan Petit, Nachi Chockalingam, Rene M. Castelein, Konstantinos Sultanis, Aleksander Kabsch; for Genetics and Etiology: Alain Moreau, Keith Bagnall, Peter Dangerfield, Nelson Tang; for Growth and Metabolism: Florina Moldovan, Isabelle Villemure, Ian Stokes, Nathalie Alos, Wlodzimierz Samborski; for Imaging and Measurements: Winnie Chu, Tomasz Kotwicki, Delphine Perie, Farida Cheriet; for Treatment: Theodoros B. Grivas, Hans-Rudolf Weiss, Jack Cheng, Hubert Labelle, Jean-Marc Mac-Thiong, Francisco Javier Sanchez Perez-Grueso, Tiziana Greggi, Jacek Durmala, Seung Woo Suh; and finally, for Quality of Life: Lorenzo Aulisa, Jose Maria Climent, Juan Bago, Maciej Glowacki and Nobumasa Suzuki.

We do hope that this book, representing the state of the art in scoliosis research in 2012, will stimulate further studies which will lead us closer to an understanding of idiopathic scoliosis, which remains a fascinating and enigmatic disease. We hope that this meeting will be a unique opportunity to meet in Poznan, Poland, in order to discuss the topics related to spinal deformities, and to advance the study and research into spinal deformities for the benefit of patients.

Tomasz Kotwicki and Theodoros B. Grivas

Poznan, April 30th 2012